Tiny Tim

Chapter 5

As expected, I was able to enjoy my Pizza without any interference. At least until my phone rang, because my grandmother was calling me. I answered the call without taking my eyes from the monitors, or taking all of my attention from the report I was writing.

“Hi Granny!” I greeted her with my best impression of a happy person.

“Hello, my darling. Happy Birthday!” she chirped in an especially cheerful voice.

“Thank you, Granny! So, how are you? Haven’t heard from you in a while. You gonna be back for Thanksgiving?”

“Of course, we will. This time we’re thinking of staying all the way ‘till Christmas. You won’t be bothered by sharing a bathroom with me again, right?” she asked mirthfully, with a lightly expectant undertone.

“Don’t think that’s gonna be a problem.” I proclaimed with confidence, knowing I’d be long gone by Thanksgiving.

“Oh? No regrets after running into me half naked?”

“You didn’t seem as traumatized as Ava was when it happened to her. I think you could manage if that happened again. Of course, if you get nightmares from seeing me in the buff, I’ll at least consider buying myself some pajama bottoms!” I smirked. Was I flirting with my Grandma? I don’t know. Maybe I shouldn’t have had that conversation while concentrating on something else.

“So, pumpkin, did you get something nice for your birthday?” she asked, probably checking whether the family remembered.

“I have. A nice new monitor for my PC.” I answered, not mentioning that I had purchased it myself. A nice but sadly expensive ultrawide monitor without curvature. The curved ones are awesome for gaming, but morph any straight horizontal lines, so creating layouts and designs was near impossible on them for me. Even without the curve, the damn thing had cost me $600.

“That sounds nice. But somehow that also sounds like something work related again. Did you at least get a nice cake?” she asked, almost dropping the pretense of not just checking on our relationship progress.

“I got a tasty treat, yes.” It wasn’t even a real lie. The pizza and the muffin were tasty, I just didn’t tell her that I had ordered them. And the muffin was also cute, really. They even stuck a little candle in it.

“That is nice, pumpkin. Well, I guess we’ll see each other next week then. Enjoy the weekend, and don’t work so much! Bye!”

No sense in complaining to her and causing problems for me. If she had any actual interest in fixing this family, she wouldn’t have waited almost an entire year before checking on our progress. I was dead set on packing my shit and leaving this house the following day. Telling Grandma the truth at that moment would only have caused her to call her children. And then they would have been in the way, trying to argue with me while I tried to pack my car. I also had work to finish that was more important than whining about my birthday.

When, by Ten PM, there was still nobody home, I started packing. I won’t lie, it felt weird. I had been looking forward to leaving for months, but always expected to live there with Tess one day. Now I had doubts. Not about moving out, or living alone, but rather about the family not throwing a fit and ruining this for me just for shits and giggles. I just kept telling myself, if they couldn’t even be bothered to remember my birthdays, they won’t miss me either. Realizing my entire life fit into two moving boxes and a sports bag weirded me out more, though. Apart from my computer and laptop, I only had clothes and a few toiletries to pack.

The next morning, I carried my computer, gaming chair, and the two moving boxes with my clothes to my Jeep and made the drive to my new home. When I parked, I saw Paul walking out of the building.

“Good morning!” he greeted me with a big grin.

“Morning. What’s up? This almost looks like you waited for me.”

“I did.” His grin widened. “Just wanted to be there when the realization hit. Let me help you carry your stuff in.”

I didn’t really know what he meant, but accepted his offer. After we had placed my meager possessions in the living room, he looked at me expectantly.

“What?” I asked, a little weirded out by his expression.

“Still not getting it? Try unpacking your clothes.”

I opened the box, took a few shirts out, and froze as the realization hit me.

“And THERE it is.” He shouted out. “Finally realized you’re an idiot.”

I had a bed and a desk, but that was it. There was nothing to put the clothes away in this apartment.

“Just to be sure. Did you plan to eat nothing but takeout? ‘Cause I don’t see any kitchenware either. Or tableware, for that matter. How about toilet paper? Don’t tell me you’re only gonna greet people with your right hand from now on.” He asked, laughing hard by the end.

“Well ... maybe I was a little too enthusiastic to get here...”

“Yeah, I was the same when I left for college. Dried myself off after showers with a dirty shirt, ‘cause I didn’t think about towels. You still got some savings left?” he asked, and I nodded. “Alright. Come on. There’s an Ikea not too far from here. For Christ’s sake, you didn’t even bring a blanket or a pillow.”

Paul and I drove in separate cars, so he could put stuff in his pick up truck. He pointed out quite a few things I hadn’t thought about, so I was loudly groaning when I had roughly eight-hundred dollars worth of the most mundane everyday items on my list that had always just ... been available.

“Don’t forget the living room.” Paul reminded me.

“I spend most of my time either in bed or in front of the computer. I don’t need a living room right now.”

“Yes, you do. When the others come over for the housewarming party.”

I blinked at him for a moment. “And when exactly is that going to happen?”

“We decided on Seven PM, which means that we have enough time to assemble everything ... If they deliver in time. I don’t think we’ll get a corner sofa and two armchairs on my truck with everything else.”

I grumbled but was secretly happy. I had never been to a party, much less hosted one because nobody would show up anyway, so this was already turning out to be the first day of my better life! Paul had a blast teasing me about my earlier grumbling, when he saw me pick out a bunch of cups with a huge grin on my face.

“I gotta say, man ... you have a weird taste.” Paul commented with a light scowl back in the apartment. “Everything you picked is either white, black, or gray. I didn’t even know Ikea sells dark gray toilet paper that isn’t recycled!?”

“Not gonna lie, I like it. Reflects how bland I am. But it also has the added benefit that I don’t have to spend extra time looking for stuff that fits together and into the apartment.”

“Your walls are entirely white, dude. Anything fits in here.” he laughed.

We spent two hours assembling and arranging everything and preparing the bathroom, before the delivery truck with the sofa and armchairs arrived. After another hour of figuring out how to get the sitting arrangements through the door, I could finally start unpacking while Paul excused himself to make arrangements for the party. I quickly went shopping for snacks and had barely enough time to take a shower before Paul came back with a beer crate. I ordered a bunch of pizzas and the evening started.

They coordinated themselves well. Eight people from work showed up, including Bill and his wife, and all of them presented me with the exact same potted plant as a housewarming gift. At least I now had something to put on the window stills. Until they died, that is.

Bill’s wife had a different idea, though, as she gifted me a stack of framed pictures showing me and Tess at work, in the company gym, and at the after-work get-togethers. I had no idea how she got a hold of them all, nor did I ever notice just how obvious Tess and I had behaved in front of all these people. I thanked her with a hug before fleeing into the second bathroom to hide for a few minutes. I only had a few selfies we took together to remember her, and since I had taken those with my flip phone camera, this meant a lot to me.

I had a great time, and actually managed to not miss Tess for a few hours! The guys told stories about their first time living alone, assured me how none of them found themselves in half furnished rooms like I did, and told me how this would be the best time of my life. Apparently, living alone would be a big plus when getting to know women, which I doubted though.

As expected, it took the family six days to realize I was gone. At least I think that was when they really realized it, because it was Thursday during lunch break at school when Ava came storming to my table. She was followed by Joan and Mia, whom I hadn’t seen since Ava’s seventeenth birthday.

“Tiny! What the fuck is going on!? Mom just called, screaming at me to check if you’re in school! Why aren’t you answering your phone?” she asked, more annoyed than anything.

“My phone is on silent when I’m in school. Just tell her I’m here and then fuck off again.” I said dismissively.

“Why would she ask me that in the first place? What did you do?” Her two friends seemed quite amused about the spectacle.

“Really? You don’t know?”

“I wouldn’t ask if I did.” Her tone told me in no uncertain terms that I was to finally use my brain.

“Wow. What a loving family I have. Took them six days to notice that their youngest child moved out.” I said, looking her dead in the eyes.

While her friends’ eyes widened at this scoop about their friend’s private life, Ava herself was stunned for a moment, trying to understand what I just told her.

“Wh ... What!? You can’t move out! You’re only sixteen!”

“No, I’m not.” She just stared at me like I had a stroke or something, so I sighed and explained it to her. “Not that any of you noticed, since you were busy with Golden Boy’s return from college that day, but I’m seventeen, Princess, so I CAN move out.”

I was intrigued to see her shoulders slump and her eyebrows knit. Her entire facial expression looked like she was just about to say “Oh crap!”. This was highly unexpected. But I continued.

“So, do me a favor. Call your parents, and tell them I moved out a fucking week ago. If none of you assholes even noticed it until now, they shouldn’t act like they care about it. I wonder what set them off, though. Was it your mother who noticed first because my chores weren’t done? Or was it your father who wanted to complain that I hadn’t paid my rent this month?” Her two friends regarded Ava with doubting looks after hearing that.

“Why do you keep saying ‘your parents’ and ‘your mother’? Aren’t you siblings?” Joan asked.

“Tell me, Joan. Imagine Jenny didn’t come home from school today. No note, no call, she just ... vanished without a trace. How long do you think it would take you and your parents to notice? Would it be less than the week it took Ava to notice that her little brother was gone, or longer?”

Hearing that, Joan looked at Ava with shock and disbelief. Ava was visibly uncomfortable with the way this conversation went, and tried to change the topic away from their misgivings.

“But ... where did you move to? Did you move in with Tess?”

Now, she was no longer just uncomfortable. She downright paled when she noticed the look I gave her as soon as I heard Tess’ name, and took a step back when I stood up.

“No, I’m renting my own apartment. Now, if you’re quite done with this public shitshow...?” I said, and moved past her out of the cafeteria.

I checked my phone and realized I had received a barrage of texts and calls from Claire, Aaron, Grandma and Grandpa. The texts were all the same, just asking where I was, pleading to call them. So, I decided to call Grandpa back, who was at the top of the list of missed calls.

“Tim!?” I heard his concerned voice.

“Yeah, I just saw all your missed calls. What’s up?” I said, playing dumb to see if they would tell me anything other than Ava had.

“Where are you, kiddo?”

“Having my lunch break in the school’s cafeteria. Where else would I be?”

“Well... ” My relaxed tone seemed to irritate him. “Susy and I just arrived here this morning, but when we wanted to put your birthday present in your room, it was basically abandoned.”

“Of course it was, I moved out last Saturday. Now, listen, my lunch break is over and I gotta get to my next class, so if there’s nothing else...”

“You ... Wait! CLAIRE!” I heard him scream, sounding quite angry. “What do you mean ‘moved out’!? Where did you move to? And a damn week ago!?”

What followed were the muffled and barely audible sounds of an argument, though I wasn’t really interested in what was happening in that house, so I interrupted them.

“Listen, I really need to get to class now. I’ll come around the house on Saturday. Bye.”

I hung up before either of them could say anything more. After classes were over and I was on my way to work, I saw they had called me three more times. I didn’t care anymore. If they had just forgotten about the date, I could overlook it. What actually made the difference was finding the leftovers in the trash can on my birthday. And the grandparents were no better in my book. They had told Claire to fix this crap, just to immediately vanish again for a year. As far as I was concerned, they were in absolutely no position to lecture anyone about familial bonds and obligations.

The following day, I managed to avoid Ava at school and the family’s calls, until I came back from work and found Granny and Grandpa standing in front of the apartment complex. They were talking to Paul, who gave me a desperate look as soon as he noticed me.

“Dude! Finally!” he called out in relief, like I was somehow supposed to know they would be waiting for me.

“What’s going on?” I asked, looking between their faces.

“We want to talk to you. So we asked your employer, who told us you’re living with this young man now. Though, he’s refusing to invite us in.” Granny explained, like this was supposed to make any sense to me.

“Ma’am, I already told you, we don’t live together. We live in the same building, not the same apartment! I can’t just let people I don’t know into his home!” Paul explained in a mix of patience and desperation.

“Sorry, Paul! Grandpa ... didn’t I tell you I’d swing by the house tomorrow?”

“Now listen here, Kiddo! We came here...” he started annoyed, but I was in no mood for his tone. I was finally free, and I was NOT going to take that baggage with me into my new life.

“Alright, stop right there! Let me make this perfectly clear from the start, Grandpa. I didn’t move out on a whim! It cost me a fucking fortune to set this place up, after I spent months finding it. I moved out because I’m done taking their shit!” I paused to make sure he got what I had said, without wanting to reveal too much in front of Paul. “Now, this is my home. Either you respect it or you can fuck off right now.”

Grandpa was taken aback for a moment, surprised about my demand and tone. It seemed like he wasn’t too happy with me speaking to him like that, when Grandma stopped him by speaking up.

“You’re right, Tim. We’re sorry.” she said, throwing her husband a side glance. “Please ... can we go inside and talk?”

I looked at her for a moment, trying to gauge her sincerity. Then I led them into the building with a nod, and offered them a seat on my sofa while I went into the kitchen for something to drink. When I came back into the living room, however, Grandma was gone. I found her in my bedroom, sitting on my bed with a thoughtful expression on her face, as she took in the dull and empty surroundings. I watched her for a minute, until she finally noticed me standing in the doorway.

“Oh! I’m sorry, pumpkin!” she said with a sad smile. “How are you feeling?” she asked, in a concerned tone.

“I’m fine.” I answered, not sure whether she was apologizing on her daughter’s behalf, for enabling her, or for sneaking around my apartment. Then I moved towards my desk. “How was the drive?”

“Fine, fine. Tim ... where is all your stuff?” she asked, causing me to look at her in confusion while consciously keeping my smile up.

“What do you mean?” I noticed Grandpa standing in the doorway as I asked her that.

“I mean, why is it so empty here? Your room in the house only had three pieces of furniture left, so we thought you just took it all with you, but what little you have here looks and smells brand new. And where are all your personal things?” she clarified impatiently.

“And where is the furniture?” Grandpa added. “The second bedroom is completely unused, and the living room is only furnished with the bare minimum.”

“I only took my clothes and computer with me when I left. The furniture here looks new because it is. So, what you saw in my old room is basically how it looked before as well. My personal belongings are here.” I said and opened the middle drawer, pointing at its contents.

They came over, looked inside, and took a few of the pictures out. Those were the pictures showing me with my former friends. I wasn’t sure why I even took them with me instead of just dumping them before the move. I hadn’t so much as talked to any of these people in two years.

“Tim, that can’t be all. I remember Johnny’s room when he was your age. It was stuffed to the ceiling with all the tidbits he collected from all the things he was interested in over the years.” she explained, spreading her arms and gesturing to the walls. “Posters from his favorite sports teams, posters from his favorite bands ... where is all that?”

“And why are these pictures in your drawer instead of on your walls or desk?” Grandpa added.

“Well...” I thought about it for a moment, trying to figure out how to phrase it best. “I kinda lost interest in most of that stuff, so I got rid of it. And the pictures ... These people barely even talk to me anymore, so maybe I’ll just throw them away too.”

“They don’t talk to you anymore?” Granny asked.

“How about you ask Ava about that. She has more insight into that than I do.” I waved her off, feeling my annoyance with these people grow as they displayed their cluelessness about my situation.

“Kiddo, I could believe you getting rid of the small stuff, like unfinished crafts projects. But where are all the books you used to read?” Grandpa noted. I had hoped they wouldn’t remember my fondness for fantasy novels.

“Oh. I gave those to someone else. She also enjoyed the genre and didn’t know most of mine yet. She ... took them with her when she moved.” I explained, trying to keep my voice firm and my emotions under control. I don’t think I fully succeeded, but they never commented on it if they noticed something.

I sat in my chair and started my PC, but they just stood there, giving me weirdly appraising looks when they didn’t exchange looks between themselves. Then Grandma sat back down on my bed and started talking again.

“Pumpkin ... I’m sorry about what happened at your home. Is there any chance...”

“There isn’t!” I shot her down.

“Come on, Pumpkin! It can’t be that bad!” she said with a doubtful tone. That did it. I lost it.

“HOW THE FUCK WOULD YOU KNOW!?” I yelled as I jumped out of my chair and glared at her, causing both of them to jump as well. “I’m waiting! Fucking tell me how the FUCK you would know SHIT about how bad it was for me in that FUCKING house!”

“Tim! Y...” Grandpa tried.

“YOU SHUT UP!” I was in complete rage at that point. He took a step towards his wife. “How about this? You get the fuck back to your daughter’s house. You take a damn good look at every room in that house. And then you tell me why THEIR rooms look like she hired an interior designer, while MY room looks like it was furnished after a visit to the fucking salvation army! Ask your daughter when the last time was that I got to fucking EAT something she cooked! Ask her husband how much RENT his other two children had to pay over the last two years! Ask your son’s wife how my SCHOOL LIFE looked like, with Ava and Logan there! And THEN you come back here and try to tell me again how it WASN’T SO BAD!”

Seeing their shocked faces, I kind of deflated and collapsed back onto my chair.

“You fucking knew full well what was happening since last Thanksgiving! And what was your reaction to it? You FUCKED OFF for a whole damn year, never to be heard from! What the fuck did you expect to happen? Divine intervention!?”

They stared at me with rattled faces, while my own face was hidden behind cupped hands. After half a minute, Granny finally managed to collect herself, got off the bed, and tried to hug me.

“Don’t.” I sighed, and she instantly flinched back. “You knew! You knew and didn’t do shit about it for a year. Just yesterday, you learned that they didn’t even notice me being gone for a whole week, and only found out now because you started looking for me. You don’t get to throw that shit in my face about how it couldn’t ‘ve been so bad!”

There was silence for about a minute, before Granny spoke with a shaking voice.

“Pumpkin ... I’m so sorry! Yes, we knew your relationship with your father was in the dumpster because he couldn’t identify with you. And, yes, we knew you were fighting with your mother. But I swear to God almighty, we had no idea it was that bad! Please, you have to believe me! We talked to your mother on Thanksgiving about finding a way to fix all this. Had we realized how much you actually suffered, we would never have left! We thought this was all just a communication problem that happens naturally when kids reach a certain age.”

“Then let me ask you this instead: Why didn’t you know?” I challenged her. “I was serious about checking the rooms in the house, and the rent, and everything else. The signs were all there! All you had to do after that alleged discussion with them on Thanksgiving, was to take a damn look around. What could you have possibly been doing, that had you so distracted you forgot to check out their story?”

Suddenly, she looked mightily uncomfortable. She knew exactly what they were doing. They were fucking! But, as far as they knew, I didn’t know about their family orgies. In fact, I had been excluded from their family orgies! So, she couldn’t answer that one. Grandpa displayed an unexpected ability for quick thinking, as he tried something else by throwing me off with a completely unexpected question.

“Have you thought about what you’ll want to do after school?”

That sudden change of topic took me by surprise. Since I knew how much of a tight spot I had pushed them into, I decided to indulge him.

“That’s still almost two years away, Gramps. But ... work, probably?” I said, not entirely sure where that was going.

“You should go to college. I’m sure you’d do well.”

“What’s the point?” I sighed and noticed them perking up when I said it.

“What do you mean? You don’t plan on going?” Grandma’s tone sounded more alarmed than confused.

“Granny, when I finish high school, I’ll have more than three years of experience in programming- and IT-work in a reputable firm on my resumé. From what I read so far, the stuff they teach at college for my line of work is almost always outdated, because they can’t update their curriculum as fast as web technologies progress. So, with my experience and portfolio, I have a higher chance to find a job than with a college degree. And there is no indication that I’ll even have to look for a job after high school. I probably could just keep working for Bill, if I wanted to.” I explained.

She thought about that for a moment and seemed to relax a little, then looked at Grandpa who just shrugged his shoulders.

“You know, if you ever need someone to talk to, pumpkin, we’re here. Right?” she asked in a soft tone.

“Sure, I know. I don’t know for how long you’ll be here, though.”

I had fully expected her to protest. Instead, she stood up, wrapped her arms around me above my shoulders, and pressed her breasts into my neck as she hugged me. For a woman of 58, they were surprisingly firm. Not that I had much to compare this feeling to, though. For all I knew, this could just as well just be her bra. Then she gave me a kiss on the top of my head.

“For a while, pumpkin. We will be here for a lot longer than planned, it seems. Remember to call if you need anything.” she said with a resigned sigh before pausing for a moment. Then she continued in a quiet, sad voice. “Are you really sure this is the best way?”

“Let’s be honest here, Granny. They didn’t even notice I was gone. The only reason they did find out after Six! Days! ... was because you went into my room and started asking questions. What’s that telling you? They didn’t miss me at the breakfast or dinner table, they didn’t have anything to talk about that would require them to seek me out, and they never went into my room for any reason. Seriously, how long do you think it would’ve taken them to notice my absence if you hadn’t arrived today? Think about that when they act all sad about me being gone. My last birthday was just the last straw in a long series of ‘Fuck You!’s, which you should be well aware of. They won’t miss me. I just refuse to go on like that.”

For some reason, they both regarded me with yet another alarmed look. It wasn’t sadness about me not wanting to fix what they broke. It was more like they were genuinely concerned for some reason, when I finished my little rant. Then Grandpa suddenly burst out his question, in a hurried tone.

“But ... but you’ll show up for Thanksgiving, right?”

I thought about that for a long time.

“Sorry, Grampa, but I don’t think so.” I finally answered while leading them to the door and showing them out.

I went to bed that evening contemplating their strange behavior. I could accept them being put off by me leaving, especially if they finally realized why I left. But I simply couldn’t understand where those repeated alarmed looks came from. If they were worried about something, they should just come out and tell me.

The next morning, I was awoken by my phone ringing. It was Bill.

“Yeah?” I asked, trying hard not to sound like I had just slept eleven hours for no apparent reason.

“Listen, Kid. I need you to come to the office real quick. My laptop is somehow frozen and it may froze while showing something I wouldn’t want the wife to see.”

“Did you try turning it off and on again?” I asked, smirking about how true that famous line from ‘The IT Crowd’ was.

“Can’t. I was working on a proposal I haven’t saved yet.”

“You don’t want your wife to see a proposal? Is it for your girlfriend?”

“I was ALSO working on a proposal. Happy now? How about you try to be less of a smartass and more of a loyal employee that doesn’t ask so many questions!” he said, before hanging up the phone.

I made my way to the office in my rusty Junker-Jeep and quickly took care of Bill’s laptop by killing the Firefox process. I made a mental note to add the thirty-minute drive to my timesheet, instead of just the one minute it took to open the task-manager, when Bill spoke.

“Tim, do you know anything about digitizing VHS-Tapes?” he asked.

“Yeah, did it before. It’s not that hard, just tedious. You need a VHS-player with separate audio and video outputs to plug into a capture device. Problem is, you can’t really do anything while the video plays.”

“Good. That’s pretty much what the guy in the store told me as well. I’m working on an anniversary gift for my wife, but my twenty-year-old VHS-player doesn’t have any ports for the new capture-thing I bought at Walmart. Here...” he said, moved over to a cabinet holding everything he purchased so far and asked me to look at it.

“Oh, there’re adapters for that. I’ll go get one and help you set it up. Give me ... two hours?”

He nodded and then I made my way out the door.

Since he bought the capture device at Walmart, that’s where I went for the adapter too. When I reached the electronics section and looked through the various adapters they had on display, I heard familiar voices drift over from the next aisle.

“Mom, stop freaking out. Slow down! He won’t want anything!” That was Logan’s annoyed voice. “Let’s just get a cake or something if we absolutely have to.”

“No, dammit! I can’t believe this happened again!” Claire answered in an almost desperate tone. “It’s too late for cake ... I need something better. Why does none of you know anything!?”

“Honey ... I told you, I don’t know anything about this geek stuff. The kids don’t know either Wouldn’t it be better to just get him money, instead of an obvious last-minute attempt he probably wouldn’t like anyway?” Aaron asked in a distinctly disinterested voice.

“Yeah, Mom, Daddy’s right. I mean, did you look at his room before he moved out? There was nothing really showing what he’s into. Other than his computer and fridge.” Ava added.

Apparently, the whole family was there.

Had I misjudged Claire? She seemed to be genuinely pissed at herself for forgetting about my birthday again. Though, if she was now genuinely upset about it, how could it happen in the first place? And two years in a row, no less. No, more likely, her frantically looking for a present was in no way caused by guilt or her being pissed at herself. She was probably sent here by her parents, who were angry that she failed to fix our relationship. Or possibly even blaming her for the clusterfuck their visit had turned out to be, because they believed the family’s bullshit excuses last year.

The others seemed to care just as little as I expected them to. Getting me money as a present? Over the fourteen weeks since Logan had left for college, they shamelessly helped themselves to $2,200 from my bank account to pay for Logan’s ‘college stuff’. And now they wanted to give me a $50 Amazon voucher and call it a fucking gift! Fucking priceless.

“How about something for his car?” Claire suggested.

“Sure. Maybe an air freshener.” Logan said dismissively.

“I’m afraid Logan has a point, honey. I took a look at his car a while ago. It’s a miracle the thing doesn’t just fall apart whenever he drives over a speedbu...” Aaron answered, but his voice suddenly cut off.

They had rounded the corner as Aaron was shit-talking my beloved Jeep, and quickly spotted me standing in the aisle. I didn’t want to give any indication that I overheard them talking, so, instead of looking in their direction, I grabbed the adapter I needed like I had just found it after intensely looking for it, and calmly went to pay. They caught up to me in the parking lot when I was just opening the car door. For some reason they kept a good fifteen feet distance from me. Aaron seemed to be the first to find the resolve to talk.

“Tim. What are you doing here?” He asked, and I turned my head to him with fake surprise on my face.

“Hello to you too, Aaron. Boss got the wrong part for a project. I was looking for the right one.” I answered, consciously trying to sound aloof, as I held up the adapter.

“Well, maybe this is for the best.” Claire said, sounding resigned. “Truth is, we’re sorry, Baby...”

Just like Aaron in the store, she didn’t get to finish her sentence, since the last word she spoke was overshadowed by Logan shouting a loud “OH SHIT!” as three guys stepped past him, positioning themselves between the family and me. For a moment it looked like Logan wanted to run, but I could see one of them was holding him by the arms. Like they had expected him to try that. All of them seemed to be in their mid thirties to early forties, so even if they had refrained from immediately restraining Logan, it would have been clear that they were not some friends of his.

“We’ve been looking for you, Logan. Hiding away with Mommy and Daddy?” the guy holding him said. Logan looked mighty uncomfortable with that and was trying to play it off.

“What? I ... I’m just visiting home for the Holidays!” he answered with almost no panic showing through.

I placed my shopping-bag in the car, leaned my back against it, and lit myself a cigarette. If Logan was about to get his ass kicked, I wanted to enjoy the show, and this was the next best thing in the absence of popcorn.

“Normally that wouldn’t be a problem, but we’re still waitin’ for our money!” came an angry answer.

“Money? What money? Logan!?” Claire asked, clearly alarmed by what she heard.

“Oh, if it isn’t Mommy dearest. And the lovely Ava! It’s an absolute pleasure to finally meet you in person!” The stranger, who seemed to be in charge, said in a sickeningly familiar tone.

I perked up. How the fuck did he recognize them, Ava even by name, when Claire and Ava had obviously no idea who these three guys were? Aaron, finally realizing this wasn’t a friendly get-together between college friends, stepped forward.

“What do you want?” he asked them. It didn’t impress anyone, since his voice was pregnant with uncertainty and indecisiveness.

“Our money, as we already said. Your father isn’t the brightest fellow, is he?” Another one of them replied. Did he just guess that Aaron must’ve been Logan’s father, or did he recognize him too?

He took a step towards Aaron. Suddenly I understood why Claire was taking money out of my bank account.

“Paying for ‘college stuff’, huh?” I mused to myself, just loud enough for everyone to hear, causing the family and the three strangers to turn their attention to me.

This wouldn’t do. Aaron was useless even in this kind of situation, Logan was already incapacitated, and Claire was protectively holding onto Ava with both of them looking frightened. This was rapidly turning ugly.

I looked at the three strangers more closely, and noticed the suspicious bulges under their jackets and shirts. One of them was probably carrying a gun, while the other two had purely cylindrical objects attached to belt-pouches. Strangely, I was still feeling mostly nothing. Neither nervous nor afraid, and certainly not concerned for Logan. If I had to put a finger on it, I think I felt excited when I moved.

I cleared my throat to keep their attention away from the family, and stepped past the three to position myself in between them and Claire, who was still holding onto Ava.

“May I ask, how much money are we talking about?” I asked them, doing my best to sound mildly interested.

“Enough for us to chase that shithead down here. Of course, we could discuss alternatives to offset the interest at least.” he said, as he basically undressed Ava and Claire with his eyes and tried to step towards them.

I reached back, grabbed Claire’s wrist, and pulled her and Ava behind me, never taking my eyes off the guy. It wasn’t to shield either of them. It really wasn’t. It was just a matter of principle. I didn’t like his attitude. That was all.

The guy clearly didn’t like that gesture and sized me up. I knew the signals he gave off from the training sessions in the firm, and realized this would end very badly for someone. I slightly turned my head and spoke to the two behind me, without taking my eyes off the three in front of me.

“Maybe it’s for the best if you leave now.”

“What!?” Claire protested. “No!”

I waited for just a second, but when nothing happened I spoke again.

“Aaron! How about you do the smart thing and help them to the car, so I can have an undistracted talk with Logan’s friends?”

Counting on him to be overwhelmed and inexperienced with these situations worked. Sure, I personally never experienced anything like this either, but I did have training and was somehow eager to put it to the test. And for some damn reason, there was that little voice in the back of my head telling me something along the lines of ‘Without Tess, no one’s gonna miss me anyways’.

Aaron took his wife by the hand and pulled her and Ava to their car. The guy ogling them wasn’t happy about it, but I wasn’t expecting to actually talk with them in the first place.

“You gonna regret this you fucking...” he started, while simultaneously reaching for the metallic object on his belt. I decided to make my move before he could pull out his weapon.

As he talked, he kept nodding upwards, as if he was trying to look down on me despite us being the same height. I quickly flicked my lit cigarette into the face of the guy I suspected of carrying a gun to my left, and headbutted the one in front of me. Thanks to him nodding upwards, my forehead made perfect contact with his nasal bone, and I felt a satisfying crunching. Then I quickly turned to my left, facing the one I just surprised with my cigarette bud. He was still pressing his eyes shut but had drawn his gun and was now blindly pointing it in our general direction. I grabbed his wrist with my right, pulled it upwards and past me to straighten his arm, and placed a strong palm punch on the outside of his elbow.

Just as my left connected with his elbow, he pulled the trigger, but then his elbow bent inwards. It was then I realized that I couldn’t hear shit anymore after the gun went off so close to my head. That was NOT part of the training sessions. We did those with Blueguns. All I heard now was a long, drawn out, high-pitched beep.

I managed to keep the movement of my left hand going though, past his elbow, turning my upper body with it until I was almost with my back to him. Then I pulled my left arm back, ramming my elbow with everything I had into his chin. The Gun dropped and his body followed. I kicked the gun under my Jeep and turned back to the one I headbutted.

Too late, it turned out. As soon as my head was turned towards him, it snapped back when something hard hit me directly above my right eye. Surprised by the sudden pain, I instinctively raised both arms to protect my head, but then the same thing hit me hard in the left side of my chest. I took a step back, forced my eyes to open again, and saw him as he was just pulling his arm back to hit again.

He was holding a telescopic baton with a weighted head. The training kicked in again, and I moved in close to him so the thing wouldn’t have enough momentum to do real damage when it came back down on me. I managed to grab his arm, turned back around as I went to my knees, and pulled him down with me. Thanks to my body being in the way of his legs when I pulled him forward, he lost his balance and fell past me. I straightened back up and kicked his jaw hard. His hand let go of the baton and he went limp.

Then I realized the biggest mistake I had made, apart from engaging in this possibly unnecessary fight in the middle of a Walmart parking lot during business hours. After all, the training in the firm was not just about fighting. There were quite a few sessions in which we roleplayed how to de-escalate dangerous situations, but I simply didn’t think talking would do me any good with these guys.

I had assumed the third guy would be occupied by (or with) Logan. That assumption was quickly proven wrong, when the guy who had held Logan slammed his fist hard into my ribcage, right where I was hit with the baton before. I could actually feel my rib break and then move!

Getting beaten on a daily basis by football players almost twice my size provided me with a different perspective on pain. The training in the firm wasn’t exactly all cream puff either. But the pain I felt now was like nothing I had ever experienced before. I turned towards him, but he was suddenly close to me, so I panicked and put as much strength as I could into hitting him right in his orbit with my fist. He tumbled but had already managed to hit me again, in the outer area of my lower left stomach this time. I saw a glimpse of Logan’s back as the gutless fucker ran away. Then I looked down on myself, trying to figure out why my rib hurt so much, but instead noticed the handle of the knife that was sticking out of my stomach.

The sight stunned me for a moment. Long enough for the guy to recover and hit me in the face, causing me to fall backwards right next to my Jeep. When my eyes focused again, I saw the gun lying within reach underneath it. I grabbed it as fast as I could, pointed it upwards at the guy, and he froze.

“BACK!” I screamed and he complied, lifting his hands in the air.

“FACE DOWN ON THE GROUND!” I screamed again, and he complied again.

I propped myself up against the front tire of my Jeep and just lay there, keeping the gun pointed at him. It was really all I could do, since it was impossible to use my left arm anymore without the pain in my chest exploding. The warm blood I had felt run down my face, now ran into my right eye. There must have been a cut in my eyebrow.

It was then I saw running feet through the gap underneath the cars next to me, accompanied by scared, female sounding screams. I remember asking myself if Logan had come back, but the sounds came from Claire and Ava! They, with Aaron running BEHIND them for some reason, had come back to see what was going on. I quickly shouted at them to stay back, but Claire had to be held by Aaron to not run over to us while she kept screaming unintelligible things under the still present tinnitus I heard. I seriously didn’t understand her struggling to run towards us. What was she planning on doing? Kick the guy when he was already face down on the ground? Berate the other two who were obviously not conscious? I honestly couldn’t tell.

Maybe two minutes passed like this, with Claire fighting against Aaron, and me worrying about all the blood flowing from my forehead. I knew head wounds bleed a lot stronger than wounds at other places, but the amount of blood that now covered my face was concerning. Though, with my left arm out of commission, and my right arm pointing the gun at the guy, I couldn’t apply any pressure to the wound either.

Finally, I saw the flashing of emergency lights come closer. I mentally thanked whoever called them, probably the moment the shot went off, because I could barely keep the gun straight anymore. Two patrol cars drove onto the parking lot and four officers jumped out, guns drawn, screaming at me to drop the gun myself. I didn’t need to be told twice and felt relieved when I could finally let my arm drop.

Over the time I was on the ground, my adrenalin level had steadily gone back down and the pain from the various hits I took started to make its way to the forefront of my consciousness. My chest, where the baton had hit me, hurt like hell when I tried to take a breath. Strangely, though, I never felt anything special when he stabbed me. Just like a weak punch. But, by now, the area was emanating a hot searing pain throughout my stomach, making breathing even harder. It also didn’t help that more and more of the formerly white shirt I was wearing turned dark red. I could feel my right eye starting to swell up. The dull ache in my left cheek, where the very last punch had hit me, was my least pressing concern. Drawing air into my lungs became harder by the second, and since the police had finally arrived, the tension left my body. I became dizzy.

I heard Claire and Aaron rapidly explain to the officers that it was these three guys who started threatening them. I wanted to add that the gun I just dropped, as well as the knife in my stomach and the baton on the ground, were also theirs. I just couldn’t muster enough air to speak, simply because it hurt to take deep enough breaths, which scared the living crap out of me.

After one officer handcuffed the last conscious guy, and his partner had kicked the gun away from me, they quickly determined I was no threat to them. The last thing I remember before the world turned sideways and my lights went out was the officer speaking a bunch of numbers into his radio, and me asking myself why the hell he couldn’t call an ambulance before cuffing the others.